5 Reasons Why Gaming Actually Helps Brain Development

Perhaps, your friends often roll their eyes every time you talk about playing Call of Duty, Clash of Clans, or even Candy Crush. What they’re not aware of is that excessive gaming habits can actually be good for the brain. Too good to be true? Well, allow us to discuss about the 5 reasons why gaming actually helps brain development.

1. Gaming Increases the Brain Size

Despite the fact that your parents, especially the mommies out there, think that spending a lot of time on the PlayStation rots the brain, this isn’t even true at all. In fact, according to scientists, gaming could actually make your brain larger than its original size.

To support that, a study using the game Super Mario was conducted by Simone Kuhn, a scientist of the Institute for Human Development. The participants were asked to play the game for 30 minutes each day for 2 months. As compared to those who didn’t play the game, it was discovered that the Super Mario Gamers developed an increase in “gray matter.”

The “gray matter,” is the home to the cell bodies of the nervous system. Which only implies that the more gray matter to go around, the better we become at controlling our emotions, speech, and muscles.

Aside from that, Kuhn also found out that those who were excited with playing a few rounds of Super Mario have the most pronounced brain growth!

2. Gaming Teaches Almost Everything

Believe it or not, all those hours you logged gaming have taught you more than you know. No doubt about that; considering the varied rules and unusual teaching methods you must familiarize yourself with in order to finish the level.

Likewise, different games you play have different rules, strategies, processes, and the result each time you pick up a new game is different. Thus, you’ll be required to learn the ropes if you want to successfully finish the game. Also, even though experienced gamers have a better understanding of which buttons to press, there’s still a learning curve in which players enjoy the privilege of learning new things.

That said, the more you put the brain to work in order to learn the new rules, while attempting to master the game, the more your analytical skills will improve.